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Make Mine Music/Fun and Fancy Free – Chocolate Pot-roast & Pistachio Gravy, Old Fashion Chicken, Coconut Cake, White Cake, Chocolate Cake, Plum Pudding, Raspberry Lemonade, Candied Beets, Ice Cream Boat, Fish Sandwich, Avocado Spread and Dumplings

Quick links: ‘Murican Ice Cream | Stacked Fish Sandwich & Avocado Spread | Luana’s White Cake | A Cricket’s Chocolate Delight Cake | Slim Bean Sandwich | Willie’s Medieval Chicken | Coconut cake | Raspberry Lemonade | Fe-fi-fo-plum Pudding | Candied Beets | Donald Duck Dumplings | MMM, Chocolate Pot-roast | Smishmashio Green(ish) Gravy Verdict

“Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum I smell the blood of an anthropomorphic rodent!” – Willie the Giant (paraphrasing…kinda).
I had not seen either of these movies, but I had seen the short of Mickey and the Beanstalk included as part of Fun and Fancy Free. I hadn’t seen the other short film that was part of Fun and Fancy Free, Bongo the Bear. That was enjoyable, though, not as fun as Mickey and the Beanstalk.
Make Mine Music was kind of like Fantasia, but with more jazzy and contemporary songs. It was quite enjoyable. It make me want to boogie. It also included Peter and the Wolf. I used to watch that short ALL THE TIME when I was a kid. I absolutely loved it. Too bad it didn’t have any food to cook in it.

‘Murican Ice Cream (Make Mine Music)

Make Mine Music is set up kinda like Fantasia. It is a series of animations set to music. The only food shown in the whole movie comes from my favorite section of the movie called All the Cats Join in. The animation is happening as a pencil draws all of it, set to jazzy music. Some kids go into a Malt Shoppe and get some ice cream. I wish Malt Shoppes were popular when I was in high school, that would have been groovy.

Anyway, the “bartender” starts serving up a great big ice cream boat for a bunch of the cool cats to eat.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

It makes it pretty easy to see what is going into the ice cream.  And luckily, I didn’t have to buy a bunch of different tubs of ice cream, because it looks like only chocolate, vanilla and strawberry are used. GO NEAPOLITAN!

'Murican Ice Cream

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: Super Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
3 scoops Chocolate ice cream
3 scoops Strawberry ice cream
3 scoops Vanilla ice cream
handful Chopped walnuts
2-3 Sliced bananas
handful Raspberries
Whipped Cream
1 Maraschino Cherry
  1. Scoop the ice cream into a dish
  2. Cut up a banana into the dish
  3. Spread some chopped walnuts onto the ice cream
  4. Sprinkle on some fresh raspberries
  5. Top with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry

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Stacked Fish Sandwich and Avocado Spread  (Make Mine Music)

Right after the kids have delicious ice cream, the “bartender” starts to make a strange sandwich. He puts on a green paste and a whole fish.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

I didn’t bother going into detail with the fish cook. I used the same method as I did in the Pinocchio post. So see there for how to cook the fish.

Stacked Fish Sandwich and Avocado Spread

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
8 pieces White bread
Ketchup to taste
3-5 leaves Lettuce
1 Whole perch roasted
1 Green olives
 Avocado Spread
2 Avocados
2 teaspoons Lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon Salt
    Avocado Spread

  1. Using a sharp knife, cut the avocados in half, working around the pit.
  2. Twist avocados to separate the halves.
  3. Spoon out the pit and scoop out the avocado flesh into a resealable plastic storage bag.
  4. Add lemon juice and salt, seal bag, and mash the avocado with your hands until mixture is combined and spreadable.
  1. Cut the tip off one corner of plastic bag and pipe mixture onto bread.
  2. Top with ketchup.
  3. Stack pieces of bread on top of one another with lettuce, spread and/or ketchup.
  4. Put whole fish between slices of your choice. (see Pinocchio on how to roast the fish)
  5. Top with green olive for decor.

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Luana’s White Cake (Fun and Fancy Free)

Now onto Fun and Fancy Free! The first segment is all about Bongo the Bear, however, no food is shown in it, besides a caterpillar chomping on a leaf…and I didn’t want to eat any more plants after Bambi.

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In the second section, Jiminy Cricket jumps into a live-action house where a little girl, Luana is having a birthday party with her strange adult friend and his two ventriloquist dummies. It was actually pretty funny. They made some great puns. I’m all about puns. Anyway, that lucky little girl had two cakes at her party. The first one shown is a nice white cake with pink flowers on it.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

We couldn’t find any pink frosting at the store, so we settled for red in this recipe.

Luana's White Cake

  • Servings: 16
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme White Cake Mix
1 1/4 cups Water
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
4 Egg whites
2 tablespoons Orange juice
1 tablespoon Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1-2 carton White frosting
Pink icing
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Coat two 9″pans with shortening and flour.
  3. In mixing bowl combine all ingredients until moistened, then beat with mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
  4. Pour batter into pans.
  5. Bake at 350 for 29-33 minutes.
  6. Toothpick should come out clean when inserted into cake.
  7. Cool 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.
  8. Cool cake completely before frosting.
  9. Frost bottom layer first, then put the second cake on top and frost over.
  10. Use pink icing to make flowers or spell “happy birthday.”

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A Cricket’s Chocolate Delight Cake (Fun and Fancy Free)

Jiminy, that lucky cricket, start scarfing down an entire human-sized chocolate cake slice and the crazy adult friend is telling the Mickey and the Beanstalk story.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

Even though they had some good desserts at Luana’s house, the real food doesn’t come into play until Mickey and friends get up to the giants house.

A Cricket's Chocolate Delight Cake

  • Servings: 16
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
egg according to package directions
water according to package directions
oil according to package directions
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon milk
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Coat two 9″pans with shortening and flour.
  3. In mixing bowl combine all ingredients until moistened, then beat with mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
  4. Pour batter into pans.
  5. Bake at 350 for 29-33 minutes.
  6. Toothpick should come out clean when inserted into cake.
  7. Cool 10-15 minutes before removing from pan.
  8. Cool cake completely before frosting.
  9. Frost bottom layer first, then put the second cake on top and frost over.

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Slim Bean Sandwich (Fun and Fancy Free)

This is probably the most depressing meal I’ve made. Poor Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Mickey pulls out a slice of bread and cuts paper thin slices. Which is insanely hard to do, I tried. I need one of those Japanese sushi knives.

(Credit: Disney)

He then pulls out a single bean and cuts that into thirds.

(Credit: Disney)

The gang puts the bean into their paper bread slice and has the most tear-jerking sandwich of all time.

Slim Bean Sandwich

  • Servings: 3
  • Difficulty: Sad
  • Print
Ingredients:
1 Bean cut into thirds
1 Slice of bread sliced as thinly as possible
  1. Cut the one bean into thirds, set aside
  2. Take out the 1 piece of white bread
  3. Slice so the pieces are see through
  4. Place the bean inside the bread, salt if possible
  5. Throw out the window and go get some magic beans

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Willie’s Medieval Chicken (Fun and Fancy Free)

Luckily, fortune rests upon Mickey, Donald, and Goofy when they wander into the giant’s castle and find all of his food. I’ll just post screenshots of all of food that didn’t require recipes here.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

Jello is the only non-fresh food in that list of pictures, but it is so easy to make from a box, I didn’t want to bother with the recipe.

Anyway, one of the center pieces on the table is a huge chicken.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

I looked into a medieval-style of cooking the chicken, because the giant lives in a castle, just like in the medieval times.

The recipe I went off of calls for saffron. I had no idea of how crazy expensive that was. $10 for a little pinch of it! So I found out that Turmeric is a good substitute, so I used that.

Willie's Medieval Chicken

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients:
1 small packet saffron threads *or 1/2 t. turmeric
400/14 ounces 400ml/14fl. oz white wine
1 roasting chicken
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 small garlic bulbs
5/2 pieces 5cm/2in fresh ginger peeled and finely chopped
olive oil
sea salt
  1. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8.
  2. Soak the saffron or tumeric in a little of the wine.
  3. Rub the chicken all over with the pepper and cinnamon and place the chicken in an ovenproof dish.
  4. Cut the tops off the garlic bulbs so you can see the cloves and arrange them around the chicken with the ginger.
  5. Pour a little olive oil into the garlic bulbs and pour the saffron and remaining wine around the chicken.
  6. Season the chicken with salt and place in the oven.
  7. Roast for 20 minutes
  8. Lower the oven temperature to 170C/325F/Gas 3
  9. Cook for another 40 minutes, partly covered with tinfoil, until the juices run clear and the chicken is cooked through.
  10. Baste the chicken and garlic regularly during cooking.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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Coconut cake (Fun and Fancy Free)

The coconut cake is kinda in the background, and I’m not sure if it is really coconut cake, look at the picture and tell me what you think.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

See, behind Goofy flopping around on the jello? Anyway, I’m glad I decided to go with coconut cake, because it was delicious!

Coconut cake

  • Servings: 16
  • Difficulty: Medium-Hard
  • Print

Ingredients:

Cake

vegetable oil for cake pan
14 1/4 ounces Cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup Coconut milk
1/2 cup Coconut cream
8 ounces Unsalted butter room temperature
16 ounces Sugar approximately 2 1/4 cups
1 teaspoon Coconut extract
4 Egg whites
1/3 cup Coconut water

Frosting

3 large egg whites
12 ounces sugar, approximately 1 3/4 cups
1/3 cup coconut water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 bag shredded coconut

Cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Lightly oil 13×9 inch cake pan.
  3. Line the bottom of pan with parchment paper.
  4. Oil the parchment paper and then flour the pan.
  5. Set aside.Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
  6. Combine the coconut milk and coconut cream in small bowl and set aside.
  7. Place the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment, cream on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 1 minute. Decrease the speed to low and gradually add the sugar slowly over 1 to 2 minutes.
  8. Once all of the sugar has been added, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides.
  9. Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and continue creaming until the mixture noticeably lightens in texture and increases slightly in volume, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
  10. Stir in the coconut extract.
  11. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture to the butter and sugar in 3 batches, ending with the milk mixture. Do not over mix.
  12. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
  13. Fold the egg whites into the batter, just until combined.
  14. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bang the pans on the counter top several times to remove any air and to distribute the batter evenly in the pan.
  15. Place in the oven on the middle rack.
  16. Bake for 40 minutes or until the cake is light golden in color and reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees F.
  17. Cool the cake in the pans for 10 minutes then remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
  18. Once the cakes have cooled completely cut across the equator of each to form 4 layers.
  19. Place the 1/3 cup coconut water into a small spritz bottle and spray evenly onto the cut side of the 4 layers.
  20. If you do not have a spritz bottle you may brush the coconut water on with a silicone pastry brush.
  21. Allow to sit while preparing the frosting.

Frosting:

  1. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil in a 4-quart saucepan over high heat.
  2. Decrease the heat to medium to maintain a steady simmer.
  3. In the meantime, place the egg whites, sugar, coconut water, cream of tartar and salt into a medium size-mixing bowl.
  4. Place the bowl over the simmering water and immediately begin beating with an electric hand mixer set to low speed.
  5. Beat for 1 minute and then increase the speed to high and continue to beat for 5 minutes.
  6. Remove from the heat and beat in the coconut and vanilla extracts for 1 minute.
  7. Allow the frosting to sit for 5 minutes before using.
  8. Frost the top and sides of the cake and sprinkle with the shredded coconut.
  9. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007

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Raspberry Lemonade (Fun and Fancy Free)

Right before we come to the end of the Mickey and the Beanstalk story, it cuts back to the live-action scene and we see Jiminy stealing more food, this time some lemonade with raspberries in it.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

I kinda went a step beyond just putting a couple raspberries into lemonade and made full on raspberry lemonade. It was a good decision too.

Raspberry Lemonade

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Raspberries fresh or frozen
4.5 cups Water
cup Freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 large lemons)
cup Sugar
  1. Mix the lemon juice into the water.
  2. Add the sugar.
  3. Place raspberries in a bowl and lightly mash so the juices get flowing
  4. Add the raspberries
  5. Stir together
  6. (Optional) Let sit in fridge for a couple hours to allow the flavors to mesh

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Fe-fi-fo-Plum Pudding (Fun and Fancy Free)

I had a huge debate with people about what exactly this food was. Look at the mound with the cherry on top.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

I had seen a recipe with a picture that looked like that mound before. I think it was in one of my mom’s old cookbooks. My first thought was a chocolate-lava cake, but that didn’t feel right. I asked a bunch of people and finally, my mother-in-law came up with the answer. Plum Pudding. I had never had plum pudding, so I was excited to try it.

Fe-fi-fo-Plum Pudding

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients:

Pudding

1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ground, raw potato (shredded works, too)
1 cup ground, raw carrot (again, shredded works)
1/2 cup raisins *gold or brown
1 cup mixed dried fruit *preferrably with plums
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or rum flavoring
water
butter or heavy cream

Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or rum flavoring
water
butter or heavy cream
Pudding:
  1. Sift spices with flour and other dry ingredients.
  2. Add potatoes, carrots, raisins and mixed fruit, lemon extract, and butter.
  3. Mix well until batter is moistend through (this will take a few minutes).
  4. Put in buttered mold, fill about 2/3 full.
  5. Three 3″ fluted pans will hold the mixture.
  6. Steam for 3 hours.
  7. You can use a crockpot with steaming capabilities or put the molds in a larger baking dish, fill larger dish with boiling or very hot water, cover with foil and steam in the oven at about 300 degrees for 3 hours.
  8. Let sit 10 minutes before removing puddings from molds.
Sauce:
  1. Combine sugar, flour, salt, and vanilla/rum flavoring.
  2. Add enough cold water to make a thin paste.
  3. Cook over low heat until paste thickens up.
  4. Add butter or cream until desired thickness is reached.

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Candied Beets (Fun and Fancy Free)

This was another debatable food from the same screenshot.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

Behind the plum pudding are some pink ovals on greens. One of my facebook friends figured this one out. Candied beets. So naturally, I let the beet drop!

Candied Beets

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
6 steamed whole beets
 
  1. Combine brown sugar, orange juice, butter, salt and pepper in a large nonstick skillet.
  2. Cook over medium heat until the sugar and butter are melted and starting to bubble.
  3. Stir in beets and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and the beets are coated with glaze, 8-10 minutes.
  4. Serve hot or warm.

Source: eatingwell.com

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Donald Duck Dumplings (Fun and Fancy Free)

When the giant is gathering up food to eat, he grabs some, what I assume are, dumplings.

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When I tried making them, I didn’t let them cook with moisture, so they turned out really dry, but the flavor was really good!

Donald Duck Dumplings

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
2 cups Self-rising flour
1 1/4 sticks Butter (cold)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cold water
 
  1.  Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Put flour into mixing bowl.
  3. Using a coarse grater, grate cold butter into flour.
  4. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
  5. Using your fingers, gently rub the butter into the flour until it begins to resemble breadcrumbs.
  6. Add a little cold water to help it bind into dough.
  7. Divide dough into 12 pieces and gently roll each into a round dumpling.
  8. Place dumplings in pan and place on top of pot or dish full of water. Cover so the moisture doesn’t escape
  9. Cook for 30 minutes.

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MMM, Chocolate Pot-roast (Fun and Fancy Free)

We don’t actually get to see this one. Willie the Giant holds a pot to his face and takes a big whiff and says “mmm, chocolate pot-roast.”  That seems really strange. Chocolate on pot-roast? Well I tried making it anyway. And it was delicious. Who would think that chocolate would flavor beef so well.

MMM, Chocolate Pot-roast

  • Servings: 6
  • Print

Ingredients:
3 pounds beef chuck pot roast
1 carrot
1 red onion
4 stalks celery
1 red bell pepper
1 green pepper
rosemary
cinnamon
black pepper
paprika
salt
1/2 bottle red wine
1/2 gallon chicken stock
 1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
5 pieces Bakers chocolate 60% or higher cocoa
  1. Coarsley chop the vegetables and toss into pot.
  2. Pour in the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by at least half.
  3. Sprinkle the top of the beef with chili powder, paprika, cinnamon, pepper, and salt then broil on a tray until browned.
  4. Put in crock pot, lay chocolate on top of roast.
  5. Pour in chicken stock.
  6. Add vegetables.
  7. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  8. Enjoy.
  9. Optional: Puree half the vegetables and chicken stock together for a gravy.

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Smishmashio Green(ish) Gravy (Fun and Fancy Free)

Along with the Chocolate Pot-roast, the giant points out that there is “smishsmash, smishmosh, smish….GREEN GRAVY”

The pistachio gravy I made didn’t turn out very green…just slightly green-ish, but it still tasted good.

Smishmashio Green(ish) Gravy

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy-Medium
  • Print

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Unsalted pistachio nut ground coarsely
1/2 Medium white onion
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1/2 cup Heavy cream
1/4 cup Milk
1/4+ cup Flour
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper
  1. Heat oil in medium saute pan.
  2. Saute onions until translucent.
  3. Add pistachios and enough olive oil to lightly coat.
  4. Cook for about a minute (the pistachios should not change color).
  5. Add cream until heated throughout.
  6. Remove from heat.
  7. Add seasonings to taste.
  8. Put in food processor or blender, puree
  9. Return to stove, add milk and flour.
  10. Stir until you get a good gravy thickness
  11. Remove from heat.
  12. Serve.

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Will it Make You Say “Fe-fi-fo-yum?

The Make Mine Music ice cream was good, just as good as ice cream is. Nothing amazingly special. The fish sandwich was an odd combination. It was hard to eat a boney fish inside of a sandwich. The avocado spread alone was good though.

It tasted good?

The live-action food from Luana’s house was really good. The cakes were tasty, but the raspberry lemonade is the true recipe that took the cake from the cakes.

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Now onto the giant’s feast. Wow, that was a LOT of food. The chicken was the real winner here. We had some guests over to help us eat the food, and they all raved about the chicken. Although everything was really good. I was impressed with the plum pudding, having never tasted it before. The chocolate pot roast was good and even better with the green gravy. It is kinda crazy how the bitterness of the chocolate and the saltiness of the potroast and pistachios really blended well. And I can’t forget about the coconut cake. That was to die for. My wife didn’t like it because she doesn’t like coconut, but everyone else that tried it loved it.

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Verdict:

Ice Cream – 7/10

Fish Sandwich – 4/10

Avocado Spread – 6/10

White Cake – 8/10

Chocolate Cake – 8.5/10

Raspberry Lemonade – 10/10

Medieval Chicken – 10/10

Chocolate Pot-roast – 7.5/10 (with the gravy 8.5/10)

Plum Pudding – 8.5/10

Candied Beets – 6/10 (3/10 for those that don’t like beets)

Dumplings – 5/10 (better when sopping up meat juices)

Mickey’s Slim Bean Sandwich – Sadness/Depressing

2

Bambi – Red Currant, Acorns, Grapes, Red Clover, Bark, Grass, Thumper Salad

Quick links: Red Currant | Acorns | Grapes | Red Clover | Bark | Grass | Thumper Salad | Verdict

This week, we’re featuring venison! Say goodbye to Bambi’s mom! Ok,not really. The food featured in Bambi isn’t the tastiest, probably because it’s not really meant for human consumption. However, most of the animal food featured in Bambi is edible to humans. So consider this a survivalist article. So get ready to eat nasty food and feel bad about humans existing.

Momma Bird Red Currant

Within the first few minutes of the movie, we see a mommy bird bringing pink berries for her babies.

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While it was tempting just to go to Pinkberry and get some frozen yogurt, I decided to stay true to the movie and get some actual berries. I searched pink berries and found a certain berry called a Snowberry. That is probably the type of berry the mother is feeding her babies. However, I also found that snowberries cause stomach aches, so I opted for Red Currants instead, which can be pinkish as well.

Red currants are actually in the gooseberry family (see my Snow White article). They are VERY tart but they mix well with other foods. I was able to find them at my local grocery store. Although, in the theme of making this a survivalist article, here’s a link to some common wild berries so you know what you can or cannot eat.

Squirrley Acorns

We next see a squirrel and a little chipmunk sleeping under its bushy tail. I love how the chipmunk and squirrel are friends. They nibble on some acorns.

(credit: Disney)

Acorns are actually edible. However, you need to soak them in warm water until they aren’t bitter anymore. The soaking takes out the toxins in the acorns so you don’t die. Sadly, I was not able to get my hands on any acorns. Online I only found fake acorns for arts and crafts and since it’s winter here and I didn’t stock-pile up the acorns beforehand, I had trouble finding them on the ground. Maybe I need to make a couple more squirrel friends.

Grapes for the birds

This one was easy. When Bambi and the bunnies are prancing around, Bambi stumbles across some birs eating, what looks like, grapes (they might be some other kind of berry, but they really look like grapes).

(credit: Disney)

Thumper comes along and tries to teach him the correct way to say bir-Ds. Well, you don’t need to be a bird to enjoy grapes. I’m just not sure if you’ll be able to find grapes in the wild.

Big Feet Red Clover

Who wouldn’t love a food that cute widdle Thumper loves? Bambi seems to like it too.

(credit: Disney)

(credit: Disney)

Red clovers are actually really useful for humans too. They are used for cancer prevention, indigestion, high cholesterol, whooping cough, cough, asthma, bronchitis, menopause symptoms, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), skin cancer, skin sores, burns, chronic skin diseases and even flavoring. (source: WebMD). Thats not even to mention that the greens make long ears and great big feet according to Thumper!

However, I found that it isn’t the greens that are awful to eat, it is the blossom that he loves so much.

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I tried some clover sprouts and they were actually pretty tasty, but then when I tried some clover blossom….bleh! So bitter and disgusting. I even tried to steam it….but that made it worse. It smelled bad too. It’s supposed to be good for you though!

Starving Bambi Bark

When in the harsh winter, Bambi and his mom resort to stripping bark off of the tree. It’s the only thing they got. It would have been a pretty bad death if we had to see Bambi’s mom slowly die of starvation.

(credit: Disney)

(credit: Disney)

For humans, you can actually eat pine bark with very little preparation. Some of the main ways of eating it are boiling it and frying it. I tried it fried.

You’re supposed to get the inner-most bark. That is apparently the most palatable. I don’t think the bark I got was deep enough. I had to act quickly when I was stripping off the bark because I was stealing it from a neighbor’s tree in the middle of the night. I didn’t want anyone to come out of the building and question why I was digging into their pine. The chips I got were kinda red and not the inner-tree white.

It tasted fine, It kinda crumbled in my mouth. I was thinking it was going to be crispier. It turned into a powder when I chewed. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat it, but if I were starving in the wilderness, I wouldn’t mind snacking on pine bark. It would keep me from getting scurvy.

Fried Bambi Bark

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
A couple strips Pine Bark
Some Oil and salt
  1. Peel off the outermost bark of a pine tree.
  2. Peel strips of the white inner bark.
  3. Rinse the peeled bark.
  4. Heat up a little oil in a frying pan.
  5. Fry the bark.
  6. Add salt if you wish.

    Cooked Bark

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Blades of Grass!

After the harsh winter, and right before the sad part of Bambi’s mother dying, Bambi finds a patch of grass and starts chowing down.

bambigrass

(credit: Disney)

Well I tried eating grass. It’s wheatgrass. You might recognize it from your local Jamba Juice.

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It tastes like…well, grass. Nothing special. I’m not going to use at as a midnight snack though. I only wish I could be as excited as Bambi to eat it.

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Thumper Salad

So we wanted to make something using lots of the food shown in Bambi as ingredients, so we made a salad! I actually found that the gross red clover can make a fairly tasty salad dressing too.

So without further ado, here is Thumper Salad.

Thumper Salad

  • Servings: 5-7
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

Thumper Salad

1 cup Baby kale
1 cup Spinach
1 cup Chard
1/2 cup Clover sprouts
1/4 cup Wheat grass
3/4 cup Grape halved
1/3 cup Dried red currants
1/4 cup Acorns (must be pre-soaked)
Pine bark, fried sprinkle over salad to taste

Flower Salad Dressing

1/2 cup Water
1-2 tablespoon Dried red clover blossom
1 tablespoon Red wine vinegar
1/4 cup Olive oil
3 tablespoons Honey
1/4 teaspoon Salt (kosher)
1/8 teaspoon *A dash black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Lemon juice *optional

Thumper Salad

  1. Mix kale, spinach, chard, sprouts, and grass.
  2. Throw with grapes, currants, and acorns.
  3. Sprinkle fried bark on top to taste.
  4. Dress with Flower Salad Dressing

Flower Salad Dressing

  1. Boil water and red clover blossoms together for 7-10 minutes.
  2. Strain out and discard blossoms.
  3. Reserve the water.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the water, mix well.
  5. Pour over salad and enjoy!

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Will it save your mother from Man in the forest?

Well, like I said earlier, none of the food was really super tasty…but it wasn’t supposed to be. You could learn to live with it, if it were your only food source. The Red Currant was extremely tart, the grapes were good, the red clover made my stomach turn, the bark, and the grass tasted like grass.

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The salad was pretty good. It wasn’t anything special. I think I might have used too much Red Clover dressing.

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Verdict:

Red Currant – 5/10

Acorns – ?/10

Grapes – 7/10

Red Clover Blossom – 2/10

Red Clover Sprout – 4/10

Bark – 3/10

Grass – 3/10

Thumper Salad – 5/10

Bambi’s Mom Venison – ?/10 (they better have used Bambi’s mom to feed a starving family)

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Dumbo – Roasted Peanuts

Quick links: Roasted Peanuts | Clown Champagne | Verdict

I seem to always block out how sad Dumbo really is. I could say it was cutting up onions while watching Mrs. Jumbo cradled little Dumbo in her trunk, but there weren’t any onions featured in this heartbreaking movie. Only peanuts and the reoccurring early Disney theme of getting kids drunk.

Peanut Ammunition

One of the only foods shown in the movie are peanuts. However, they do play a big part. We meet Timothy Q. Mouse and he immediately cracks open a peanut and eats it.

(credit: Disney)

He then uses a peanut to coax scared little Dumbo out of the haystack.

(credit: Disney)

(credit: Disney)

This starts a beautiful but unlikely friendship between an elephant and an elephant’s mortal enemy, a mouse.

The best featuring of peanuts is at the end when Dumbo finally learns to fly without the crow’s feather. He sucks up some peanuts and gatling guns them at the flock of stuck-up elephants.

(credit: Disney)

(credit: Disney)

Peanuts are the ultimate revenge….especially if one of them had a peanut allergy…which would be pretty ironic for an elephant.

The one issue with the featuring of peanuts in this movie is that, in fact, my wife has a severe peanut allergy. So I had to work quickly and alone on this recipe.

Roasted Peanuts

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:
2 pounds in-shell, raw peanuts
1-2 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons peanut oil
  1. Rinse peanuts with cool water to remove excess dirt. Pat dry.
  2. Toss peanuts with peanut oil and salt in a large bowl until well coated.
  3. Place in a single layer on baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for 30-35 mins.
  4. Let them cool slightly before eating.
  5. Hurl them at your enemiesIMG_20150208_194734

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Watered-down Clown Champagne

I wonder at what point Disney decided it wasn’t good to feature kids (and babies in this instance) drinking alcohol. It definitely wasn’t in 1941. In the movie, some clowns were celebrating and opened up a bottle of champagne. The champagne gets thrown out the tent and into a bucket of water out of which Dumbo and Tim drink. They quite literally start seeing pink elephants (for more on this euphemism, see here).

(credit: Disney)

(credit: Disney)

As I have stated before, we’re keeping this blog dry, but we did go out and buy some sparkling cider.

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It was pretty good. Not so good when I watered it down though. It just tasted like slightly sweet water.

However, if you would like, you can go fill up a bucket with your favorite champagne and drink until your face goes red.

(credit: Disney)

(credit: Disney)


Will it make you want to go join the circus?

The peanuts were good. Nothing special, just nice good roasted nuts. My wife didn’t enjoy them as much. Luckily she didn’t go into Anaphylaxic shock (don’t worry, she wasn’t ever in the same room as the peanuts).

The faux-champagne was alright. The store-brand stuff isn’t as good as Martinelli’s.

Verdict:

Roasted Peanut Bullets – 7/10 for eating.
10/10 for ammunition

Store-bought faux champagne – 6/10
Watered-down faux champagne – 3/10